Avenging Ron
by Politics.and.Prose
Summary: Ron's been killed. Who can help Hermione avenge his death?
1. Chapter 1

She stood there gazing longingly at the boy - no, man - she had never loved before. That she never could love. That she never wanted to love. She missed her husband and he'd only been gone for a couple of days. She wanted him back more than ever at that moment. She wanted him to hold her in his arms and lightly scold her about drinking too much. But he would never do that again.

She looked back to Draco and saw something she'd never seen before. Today, she saw everyone in a new light. She buried her husband that morning and buried her sorrows in firewhiskey that night. Now, at the pub, she stared at the man she'd detested her entire life.

"I hate you," she muttered at him, not lucid enough to realize he was way too far away to hear her. She knew that he knew about Ron. She was certain he was the one who ordered it. He'd taken over since his father had been killed a year back.

She had once thought that he was coming to the Light; that he realized that Darkness was never the way to go. She was wrong. It had only been a joke. A lie. A way to get in.

The messages he passed along to his father had ended so many innocent lives.

Remus Lupin and his son Patrick.

Percy Weasley.

Minerva McGonagall.

Oliver Wood.

Michael and Emily Granger.

The list of un-named muggles was uncountable. She didn't even want to try.

The body count was growing larger again since Draco's rise to power. She ached to end it. His life for Ron's. But she could barely move from her stool let alone come up with the energy to kill a man.

She didn't want to do it magically, either. She wanted to wrap her hands around his throat and squeeze. Remind him that he was the reason she would have to explain to her twin sons why Daddy wasn't there.

After knocking back another shot of firewhiskey, she slid herself off her stool and sauntered over to him.

"You killed my husband," she told him in a surprisingly calm and sober tone.

"I didn't," Malfoy said without looking up from his own drink.

"You ordered it," she said in a stronger tone.

"I didn't," he repeated as he continued to stare down into his glass.

"Can't even look me in the face?" she spat.

He looked up and her heart stopped. His right side was bloody and bruised, but it looked like the marks had been there for days. He didn't want her to see him like that because he knew - knew - that she wouldn't leave him alone until he told her why. And he really didn't want to tell her how he got like that.

"What's the matter, Draco? Run into a wall?" she asked in a sarcastic and nasty tone. She didn't care, not really, what had happened to him. But now she had to know. Her husband was dead; her best friends were grieving by taking off; she left her sons at her mother-in-laws house so she could go get drunk; she realized those little boys were the only reason she wanted to live. What was life without Ron?

"More like 5 or 6 fists," he muttered more to himself than her.

"Someone not so scared of the leader of the Dark?"

"Some more threatened by your husband than me, that's for sure."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"I tried to stop them," he muttered as he finished his drink and stood up. He walked to the door and stopped, looking back into her eyes. "They tried to kill me because I tried to save him." He pulled his cloak up over his head and walked into the cool March night.

Two months later she sat outside her home in suburban London with her twin now-5 year olds.

"Mummy," William asked, "When's Poppa coming home?"

"Oh," Hermione said with a gasp. "He's ... he's not, baby. Just like I told you a couple weeks ago."

"I miss him. Did he leave because he doesn't love us?" David asked.

"No, baby," she cooed as she wrapped her children in a hug. "Poppa didn't want to leave." A tear slid down her cheek. "He had to go. God needed him."

"Will God send him back?" William asked.

"No, baby. Poppa's not coming back."

"What about Unca Harry? And Auntie Ginny? Will they come back soon?" David asked.

"They sure will," Harry said from behind them as he approached. "Though Auntie Ginny's at the doctors."

"She okay?" Hermione asked she stood and hugged Harry tightly.

"Will be in a few months, we reckon," he laughed.

"You're going to be a daddy?" she asked him softly.

"Yeah," Harry whispered back as he tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"He would be so happy," she whispered to him.

"He's going to be godfather," Harry told her. "I reckon he's watching right now."

"He'd love that."

"You'll be godmother."

She offered him a watery smile and kissed him on the cheek. "It's good to have you back, Harry."

"We know who it was," Draco Malfoy said as he walked out of Hermione's house and into the yard without noticing Harry. "I finally found out who gave the orders."

Hermione's eyes snapped up to Malfoy, who was dressed in casual khaki pants and a deep green shirt, hair falling into his eyes. Draco had been spending time with them - the Weasleys: Hermione, William, and David - a lot of time, if he really thought about it. He was there almost every day for a solid six weeks.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Harry spat as he draw his wand.

"Harry," Hermione said as she lowered his wand hand. "It's okay. Draco's proven that he wasn't the one to kill Ron - or to order his murder."

"How did he prove it?"

"I gave her - and the Auror Squad - every correspondence that I'd had with my group in the last year. Plus I submitted myself to a Veritaserum test."

"I was there the whole time, Harry," Hermione whispered. "He's been trying to help me ever since."

Hermione sat down on the bench they had in the back yard and Harry moved to sit next to her. Draco, who had moved to do the same thing, pulled over the blanket Hermione had been on the ground with and sat down, the boys climbing onto him immediately.

"Unca Draco, play with us!" William shouted.

"William, honey, why don't you and David go play in the sandbox? Mummy has to talk with Uncle Harry and Uncle Draco."

"Kay," the boy pouted as he and his brother went across the yard to the sandbox.

"I still don't trust you."

"I imagine you never will," Draco said calmly. "But after they tried to kill me I decided that if I'm going to die it won't be like that. By them. No, I would die for something I believed in."

"And you believed in saving my brother-in-law?" Harry asked with an unconvinced tone.

"Yes," Draco told him, his gray-blue eyes piercing Harry's vivid green ones. "I didn't want Ron to die. While we were not the best of friends, Ron knew I respected him." At Harry's scoff he continued, "I really did. I - I tried to warn him. I had heard about it through an informant ... that's why Ron lasted so long. They were after him for months before hand. They got to me right before him." He paused again. "I tried to help. I really did."

"I've gotten past it, Harry. I'm not healed but I trust him enough to know he's looking out for my family. He's ... he's protecting us."

"More like protecting himself. You have a Ministry guard, Hermione. You don't think he's hanging around so they can't get to him?" Harry asked, completely ignoring Malfoy.

"No," she told him easily. "He's proven himself to me, Harry," she said as her gaze turned on Draco. "You have nothing more to prove."

"I do. I have to prove that Oliver Wood killed Ron," Draco said strongly.

"Wood's dead," Harry said deadpan.

"His body was never found," Malfoy told him. "Father assumed that he was dead. I've found differently."

"What've you found?" Hermione asked as she got off the bench and sat beside Malfoy on the blanket. She didn't see the raised eyebrow that Harry directed at her.

"A friend in America told me they saw a guy with a Scottish accent that fit Wood's description. He used one of these jokester sketching pens that your brothers-in-law came up with and this," he said as he brandished the paper, "is what it came out as."

Harry too got up and joined them on the blanket. It was amazing how much the drawing looked like Wood. The drawing looked just a little older and with a scar across his left cheek.

"The first curse reflected off of Ron's wedding band and into the face of his killer," Hermione whispered.

Harry looked over at Malfoy to take in his smooth features, aside from a scar or two on his right cheek. He looked back to Hermione and then down to the parchment. There was no doubt in his mind that Malfoy didn't kill Ron. He still wasn't positive that Malfoy didn't order it. But now it raised a whole new question: Why would Oliver Wood want to kill Ron Weasley?


	2. Chapter 2

Two days later found Draco and Hermione sitting in her dining room having a quiet meal. She had cooked pasta and alfredo sauce and invited Draco to eat with her. The kids were with Harry and Ginny for the night due to Ginny's claim that she and Harry need to get used to it.

"If you'd told me back in Hogwarts that I'd be sitting over a meal with you, I would have laughed in your face," Hermione said suddenly. It had been dreadfully quiet and she needed to say something to break the soundless tension they were wrapped up in.

"I would have too," Draco replied. "But I have to admit, this is much better than the alternative."

"And what would that be?" she asked him.

"Visiting Lucius and his new mistress," he sighed.

"You've stopped calling him Dad," she noted. He had always been so proud to be the son of Lucius Malfoy. Now, she noted, he barely liked to acknowledge the blood relation. _Kind of hard when you look very similar_.

"He was never a real father to me." Draco had a hard time thinking of any time that his father treated him as a normal father would treat their only son. When he was a baby, Draco was scolded for not speaking in full sentences and for calling his father "dad" as opposed to Lucius' preferred "father".

"You believed in him at one time," she said. "You hung on every word he uttered. You believed that he was more brilliant and powerful than Merlin."

"I didn't know any better," he admitted. "I'd been brainwashed from the start. I had no idea what I was doing was wrong. I honestly didn't think anything was wrong until Sixth Year when I was supposed to kill Dumbledore. I just ... I couldn't do it. Lucius was furious."

"I know," she said as she reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "No one blames you for Dumbledore's death. And people are starting to forgive Severus as well." She looked down for a moment. "I wish you would have told us about your mother's unbreakable vow."

"I couldn't. You know that." He paused to take a sip of wine. "This dinner really is wonderful."

"Thanks," she smiled. "And I don't mean just about dinner. You've been great these past few months."

Draco let out a huge sigh. "Don't mention it. I mean, you lot saved my life more than once. Might as well repay the debt."

"It's more than that, isn't it?" she asked.

"I don't know what you mean," he replied. He knew she meant that he had a personal score to settle with everyone he'd ever come into contact with, whether the score was positive or not. He couldn't admit it though. He wanted to spill his thoughts to her. For some reason he couldn't understand, he wanted her to know personal things about him. But he wouldn't let her know anything. He couldn't.

"I know this is hard for you," she told him. "I know you're nervous about what could happen to you if they find out you're helping me. Even more nervous that they'll know it was your idea."

"My men think I'm dating you to get close to you and kill Potter and your family."

"What?" she asked. _Did he just say dating?_ _Did he just say kill?  
_  
"That way it doesn't look suspicious if they see me over here. They think I'm undercover."

"Oh," she said dumbly. "So you were only acting like this incase your men find you ..." She couldn't understand why she was so upset about this new bit of information. She stood quickly, ignoring the pang in her chest, and grabbed her plate and his. "I'll just go wash these up. Finish your wine and I'll bring out the desert."

"Hermione," Draco called to her retreating back. When she didn't turn around he muttered, "Bugger."

Hermione walked into the kitchen and placed their plates in the sink. She cast a cleaning spell and leaned back against the counter. "Stop it, Hermione," she muttered to herself. "There's no reason you should feel bad about this. Ron would be ashamed of you, acting like this over Malfoy." _Ron_. She took a deep breath and opened the refrigerator and pulled out two puddings.

She felt hands touch her waist from behind and for a moment thought it could have been Ron. She knew, of course, that it wasn't, but she closed her eyes and pretended it was. "Don't think none of this is real," Draco whispered in her ear. "I know you've just lost your husband and I'm not trying to make you forget him or take his place. I'll never do that. But what's been happening between us is real, Hermione. You can't deny it."

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about. Nothing's been happening, Draco," she told him coldly as she shut the refrigerator and handed him a bowl of pudding. "You're helping me avenge my husband's death. Nothing more."

"Nothing more?" he asked. "What about just last night when you almost kissed me?"

"I did not," she told him. _Yes you did_, the voice in her head told her. _You wanted it. You shouldn't have stopped. So what if it was just for comfort? You miss the feel of a man's lips on your own. He'll never be Ron but why not give it a go? You can't have Harry - not that you ever really wanted him - so why not go in the complete opposite direction?  
_  
"You did," he said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "And I'm not saying I would have stopped you if you hadn't stopped yourself. I can't help it, Granger ..."

"Weasley. My last name is Weasley," she corrected him sharply.

"You're husband is dead," he said flatly.

"I know that, Malfoy!" she yelled. "And I think it's high time for you and I to only see each other when we're working on locating Oliver. Now," she said, "is not one of those times, so I'd like to ask you to leave."

"You can't be unguarded."

"I have a guard on me at all times," she told him in a bored voice.

"I mean someone visible. I can't risk having them not be close enough to protect you."

"Why not?" she cried. "Would it be so terrible if Wood attacked me and my guards got rid of him once and for all? Because I certainly don't think so!"

"Hermione, calm down."

"I don't want to calm down! I want my husband back! I want to hold him in my arms and make love with him and ... just be with him!"

Draco wished at that moment that he could be completely honest with her. He wished he could tell her everything he knew, but he couldn't. Not yet. It was too risky for her to know. "Hermione, you have to be strong right now. Your sons need you. The Weasleys need you. And Harry, Ginny, and I need your help to get Wood. We'll be ready in a few day's time, and then we'll lure a few of Wood's men into the open."

"And then what?" she asked him as she looked up into his eyes. "What do you plan on doing after we have his men? Do you really think they'll tell us everything?"

Draco nodded. "We get the answers we need. I've been looking for Oliver Wood long before Ron turned up dead. I want that man killed in the worst way, even worse because of what he did to you and your family. We're going to ctach him, Hermione," he said as he put down the pudding and grabbed her forearms. His eyes pierced hers. "I swear to you we will catch Oliver Wood."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hermione," Draco whispered from beside her. "Wake up. You need to get out of bed."

She groaned and rolled over to see him lounging on her bed. _I didn't shag him last night, did I?_ she screamed in her head. _I can't have done that!_ Her eyes were wide as her arms moved around under her blankets to discover that she still had on her pants and an old Cannons t-shirt. _Whew_. Things had straightened out between her and Draco in the week that had passed. She'd explained to him that, regardless of what he thought or she may have been feeling, there was nothing there between them.

He'd been understanding and apologized for taking advantage of an emotional woman. _Besides_, he had reasoned with himself. _She's not yours for the taking. She'll always belong to Weasley_. They had rather quickly resorted back to a "best friends" or even "brother-sister" relationship.

"You didn't shag me last night, did you?" she asked with a yawn.

"Trust me, Weasley. If I had shagged you, you would have known."

They both chuckled a little and rolled out of bed. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and padded into the bathroom. "Where are the boys?" she yelled back to Draco through the door.

"Sent them out to play in traffic," he responded.

"You don't even know what traffic is," she muttered to herself. "Did you feed them?"

"What do I look like?" he asked as he walked into the bathroom when he heard the shower kick on and the curtain slide closed. "I'm not their babysitter."

"You're up first. You're supposed to take care of them if you're up before me."

"I hate living with you," he grumped as he sat down on the toilet seat.

"Then move out," she told him.

"Take your shower and get dressed, would you? Your little ankle biters are going to get restless in front of the telly."

"You turned the television on?" she asked as she poked her wet head out from behind the shower curtain. "But it's only just 9 in the morning."

"First, it's 8 in the morning. Second, every kid needs some entertainment with his breakfast."

"You're letting them eat in the lounge!" she all but screamed.

"Calm down. I gave them dry cereal in bowls. We can clean it up if they make a mess."

She shot him a sour look before ducking back under the hot spray. "So tell me the plan for today one more time," she requested.

"Okay. You and I are going to take the boys to the park. We're going to act like a happy family and all that rot. Wood and his men will be there to try and take you out. If you see someone coming from behind me, you have to get all huffy with me about nothing at all. Remember that. And if I see someone coming behind you, I'll reach over and take your hands. Got it?"

"Yeah," she replied as she grabbed her towel and wrapped it around herself before coming out of the shower. "No go get the boys ready to go and I'll be out to help in a few minutes."

Draco shot her a sour look but exited the room nonetheless. "David? William? Time to get dressed. Mummy and Uncle Draco are taking you to the park."

A shrill "YAY!" sounded from the two boys as they allowed their bowls to drop to the floor and they ran for their bedroom. Draco muttered a cleaning spell and followed the boys.

"Who wants to go to the park?" Hermione asked as she entered the boys' room. She was dressed in a long white cotton skirt and a white tank top with blue flip flops and a blue cardigan in her hands. Her long chestnut hair was dried and in curls that cascaded halfway down her back.

"ME!" two small boys shouted at the same time as William grabbed a shirt and shorts and ran to his mother, David doing the same to Draco. Once dressed, the kids ran out of the room and towards the front closet to get their sandals.

"You look nice," Draco told her.

"Thanks," Hermione responded with a smile. "Ron always said if I was plotting revenge I always made an extra effort to look good while doing it."

"Well, you've certainly upheld your tradition," he said.

"Mummy!" David called. "Can we go now?"

"Have you had a proper breakfast?" she asked and they both nodded. "Have you brushed your teeth?"

Both of them got an adorable little guilty look on their face and slumped to the bathroom. "You sure they're not related to that Bulgarian git Viktor Krum?" Draco asked.

"You'd better be glad this is almost over, Draco. You're starting to channel Ron."

Draco gave her a guilty smile and moved to get his own shoes from the front closet. "Hermione, I have a feeling about today. And it's a good one."

"You and your feelings," she smiled. "Honestly. I think anything that happens today is going to be good. It has to be. We're finally going to make Wood pay for killing my husband."

"Trust me on this one, Hermione. You're going to be happier than you think at the end of the day." He paused a moment. "I want you to remember something: anything that you may find out today, or anything that happens that surprises you, is really for your own good."

"What are you not telling me, Draco?" she asked in a nervous and confused tone.

"You'll find out. Harry and Ginny will be at the park as well, but in glamours."

"I don't like this," she told him.

"You will," he said. "Trust me."

She shot him a skeptical look as the boys trotted back into the room. "We're ready, Mummy," William said.

"Okay, boys. Remember, you can walk in front of us on the sidewalk but when we get to the park you have to hold our hands until we get to the field by the swings and slides and stuff," Hermione told them.

It was about 9:45 when the first movement took place. Hermione started seeing some odd looking people moving about them, their eyes lingering just a second too long on her children for her liking. "I can't believe you said that to me!" Hermione shouted to break Draco out of his reverie.

He looked up and saw a cloaked figure moving towards the twin. He glanced around the park - no muggles that he knew of - and cast a charm to petrify the figure. As soon as the words escaped his mouth, several more figures appeared. Harry jumped up and rushed over to the boys, sending them over to Ginny. She held onto both of them and apparated away.

In a split second, two figures were attached to Hermione, one on each side, holding her still.

"Ahh, Hermione Granger," said a thick Scottish accent. _Oliver Wood_. "We meet again at last."

"It's Weasley, Wood. You should know that. I mean, you did kill my _husband_ after all."

"He wasn't good enough for you," Wood responded. "That's why I got rid of him. You deserve someone better than him. More money. More class. Able to provide for you and your children."

"Incase you're too stupid to realize, Wood," she spat as she watched Draco with one of the men, who was oddly in a different color cloak, "My children wouldn't exist with Ronald Weasley."

"They could have been mine."

"Why you pompous ...!" she shouted as Draco called her name out. She turned her head away from the man in front of her and saw a flash of orange. She didn't understand what she was seeing. She _couldn't_ be seeing what she thought she was.

"They could never have been yours," said a voice from under a deep blue cloak. "Hermione's only with men she loves."

_I have to be hearing things_, she thought to herself. _I've gone completely mad.  
_  
"I thought I killed you," Oliver Wood spat as he heard the voice.

"Wrong," Ron Weasley said as he pulled his hood off and brandished his want. "Petrificus Totalis!" he cried before Wood could even reach for his wand. Draco and Harry did the same with the men on either side of Hermione and soon the only people who stood were Draco, Harry, Hermione, and, much to her surprise, Ron.

"I'll go, uhm, get the Auror Squad," Harry said as he disapparated.

"But ... how?" Hermione asked slowly as she wobbled slowly to a bench and sat down.

"We had to, love," Ron told her as he tentatively stepped forward. "Wood was plotting against me. Draco found out and warned me. Wood got someone else who was polyjuiced to look like me."

"You mean I ..." she gasped in horror.

"No, love," Ron chuckled. "That was me. I switched with the other guy when I went into the shower after."

Hermione nodded dumbly and looked up at Draco. "This is what you meant," she said.

"For your own good. We couldn't let you know he was alive or I don't think we could have gotten the emotional responses we were looking for."

"You bastard," she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek. "And you!" she shouted, rounding on Ron. "You left me! I was alone for MONTHS!"

"You weren't alone," he said. "Sometimes I would come home polyjuiced as Draco. That night that you almost kissed him ... that was me. And I was mad until you softly said my name just before our lips would have made contact. I reckon you figured something out in the pretty head of yours."

"It would have been wrong," she replied. "I didn't want to kiss him. He, I think it was he, or, I guess you, just reminded me so much of you that I forgot you were dead." She worried her bottom lip before looking up at him. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too. But we had to get him, Hermione. He was the cause of so many deaths."

"I thought he was the cause of yours."

"We had to do it this way, 'Mione. I'm so sorry I hurt you but we _had_ to."

Draco met with the Aurors that arrived and he left with them to take the new prisoners into HQ. Harry, Ginny and the babies arrived shortly thereafter.

"Daddy!" David screamed as he took off like a rocket towards Ron. "Mummy said you went to heaven."

"Well, I reckon I might be in heaven now," Ron smiled as William ran to him as well. He lifted them both up in his strong arms and smiled. "Did you two miss me?"

Both nodded their little heads. "We love you, Daddy," William said softly.

"I love you too," he whispered back.

He put the boys down as he saw Ginny approach. He thought she was going to hug him but instead punched him square in the arm. "How could you do that to us!" she cried. "We all thought you were dead." She looked to her husband and found him avoiding eye contact. "You knew as well!" she screeched. "I cannot believe you. Well, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived ... you'd better get used to being called the Man-Who-Sleeps-on-the-Couch!"

"Gin," Ron said softly, "it was the only way we could get Wood out in the open. I've been doing undercover work for the Ministry for a couple of years now. It was a set-up. We just couldn't tell you lot."

She launched herself at her brother and cried into his shoulder. "You scared the hell out of me. And that's not good for someone in my condition."

"Condition?" Ron asked as his eyes traveled to Harry. He hadn't mentioned anything about Ginny being ill. "What's wrong? Are you okay? Should you be in bed?"

Ginny snorted and Harry choked. "I think being in bed is what caused the condition," Hermione smiled, much to the horror of her sister-in-law and best friend.

"What do you ... OH!" Ron shouted. "You're ... you're going to have a baby."

"Yeah," Ginny smiled as Harry came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her still-small waist.

"Wow," Ron smiled. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Harry smiled.

"Daddy! Daddy!" David called. "Come swing wiff us!"

"Well,"Ron smiled, "I reckon I'm gunna go play with my sons."

"Come by for dinner tonight," Ginny smiled as she disapparated. Harry followed shortly thereafter.

"You know," Hermione said as she took Ron's hand and strolled towards the swings. "I woke up this morning and planned on avenging your death today and having a nice night of drowning my sorrows in wine and firewhiskey. Now I reckon it'll be your job to entertain me since there's no need for that."

"Well," Ron said with a smile, "I reckon it's about time to add a little girl to the family."

"Or another boy," Hermione agreed.

They both looked up to see William shove David off the swing and laugh at him.

"Or a girl might be nice," Hermione laughed.

"Yeah. A baby girl that'll look just like her mum," Ron said.

Hermione moved to lift David off the ground and put him on her lap as she sat down on the swing. They rocked gently as Ron pushed William. She couldn't think of a better way to end the day.


End file.
